Cover Story
Even the father of the nation Mahatma
Prominent networking sites
e r l y known twork-
(form ial ne
Netlog Belgian soc y targeted
a ll
box) is ite specifica th. Since
w e b s y o u
ing opean
t h e E u r
o v e r 31 mil g.
at 06
ber, 20 d on N
Septem ave registere ion on the
h
people which 4.5 m
m , o f o f
co
i s
ion
h vers rs can create so-
E n g l be
, mem , extend the sic
Netlog g e
eb p a
own w ork, publish post blogs
tw
cial ne , share video ‘clans’.
playl i s t s
oups c
o i n g r
and j
rassed and don’t take any measures to
report these cyber crimes.
Social networking sites are all
over the internet and a number of
youngsters tend to be misled. But one
cannot blame the internet or these sites
for individual actions. “It is important
for us to be alert and take care about
the information we are passing on to
others. As a ground rule one must nev-
er pass on information in these sites,”
says Trevor Francis Lyngwa, who him-
self avoids logging onto these sites.
Orkut made the national head-
lines when a Mumbai teenager Adnan
Patrawala, son of a businessman was
trapped on the site and later murdered.
Adnan’s Orkut profile said, I love mo-
biles, friends, my mother, fast driving,
humorous, good looking, wanna be-
come a pilot etc. Two or three weeks
back he came in contact with Angel, a
profile created by someone by utilizing
the name of a girl. Scrapbooks of Ad-
nan and Angel revealed that they were
continuously talking to each other. Ac-
cording to scrapbooks, Angel was con-
tinuously insisting on Adnan meeting
her, but Adnan wanted Angel’s photo-
graph first, which was never sent by
her. In reply Angel said “Don’s worry?
m quiet & gud looking, u wanna meet
24
Orkut
e-
as Fac
Hi5 is a social networking web-
site, which, throughout 2007,
was one of the 25 most visited
sites on the web.
lion
etlo
In Hi5, users create an online pro-
file in order to show information
ill On
t h e site  ir such as interests, age and home-
the town and upload user pictures
ir
where users can post comments.
u
the m
i r hi5 also allows the user to create
s, personal photo albums and set up
al d
l e a music player in the profile. Hi5
has over 98 million members.
me??? Lez mette up na! wot say?” Fi-
nally Adnan agreed to meet her, it re-
sulted in his gruesome death.
Police investigations later revealed
that Adnan was trapped on Orkut by
making a false profile, Angel. When
police accessed Orkut, they found that
someone had hacked Adnan’s profile
and his picture album, videos and all
scraps before his murder had been
Adnan Patrawala
deleted. What is more startling is that
even after the news of Adnan’s murder,
someone was operating his profile.
While it is estimated that there are
almost 15 lakh users in the northeast,
most of these users are below the age
June 08
is a
vice wh social netwo
ic
named h is run by G ing ser-
after it
ployee s
of Goo creator, an e
kökten
.O
g l e - Ork
ut
to crea rkut has perm Büyük-
te
vitation accounts with ed users
itt
. Orkut out an
website
i
is the m
os
visited n Brazil and t visited
target
site in
I
2nd m
market ndia. The ini t
United for ork
St
its user ates, but the m was the
ut
s
In fact, are in India a jority of
a tion, the petitioner, who is also an Or-
as of M nd Bra
of the
tra
arch 20
08
followe ffic comes fro , 67.5%
d by In m Braz
dia wit
h 15.4% il,
. Miroslav Stankovic. The community
of 35 and use cyber cafes and offices to
log onto the internet.
“Certain sites like the Facebook
are more reliable than others, but it is
up to an individual on how much infor-
mation to upload in these sites. Anyway
why only these sites even our email can
be hacked”, says Mukesh.G.Bahirvani,
a prominent businessman who uses the
internet for e-business regularly. He
adds that one should always assume
anything one writes online is stapled to
ones resumé. “People don’t realise you
get Googled just to get a job interview
these days”, he further adds.
The ever-growing online social
networks are part of the flood of inter-
net information that could be mined:
some of the top sites like MySpace
now have more than 80 million mem-
bers followed by Orkut, Facebook and
Hi5.
But these social networking sites
are not restricted to only invasion
of privacy and malicious campaigns
against students and the youth only.
Hate groups have emerged over
the last year which propagate hate
campaigns and communal disharmony.
Sites like We hate Northeast, We hate
Chinkys, Nepalese for Durwans and
Bengalees S***k are amongst the few.
Cover Story
Gandhi has not been spared with a Fac-
book profile, I hate MK Gandhi. Com-
rk ments such as I Hate Gandhi – “The
greatness of a nation and its moral
oogle a
nd
progress can be judged by the way its
m - animals are treated” what an idiot pass
me another cow-leg please – are not
only disgusting but also hurt religious
in-
sentiments.
os Recently, Bombay High Court is-
sued a notice to Google following a
tial
Public Interest Litigation. In the peti-
kut member, took exception to a com-
zil.
munity called ‘We hate India’, owned
by someone who identifies himself as
on the internet,” says Mapui Ralte, a two Dutch couples were arrested. The
college student from Aizawl. international racket in pedophilia is
features a picture of the Tricolour be-
Experts now recommend that it is huge and it runs into millions of ru-
ing burnt.
always better to be safe than repent lat- pees, says Shanker A. Subramanium
Other sites such as ‘I hate the
er. They have also given instances that from the cyber cell branch. Only re-
Pope’, ‘How Many People Hate Is-
certain people are prone to stalking on cently, Google was forced to hand over
rael?’ and ‘Christian Oppression’ not
the net and in most cases the victims data of some specific users to Brazilian
only mislead the gullible net users but
authorities, following allegations that
also try to sync up larger propaganda
Orkut was being used for illegal activi-
for hateful campaigns often resulting
On August 22, 2006, A Judge or- ties, including child pornography. The
in communal or religious divides.
dered Google to release Orkut us- Northeast and North Bengal alongside
There are others who insist that
er’s information of a list of about Goa is apparently most vulnerable to
they have made contact with friends
two dozen  nationals, believed to these people since there is not enough
with whom they had lost all connec-
be using Orkut to sell drugs and knowledge about these shameful acts.
tions, through these social networking
involved in child pornography Subramanium cites the provisions
sites. “Today we have a community of
by September 28. The judge or- of section 75 of the Information Tech-
all the ex-students of Loreto Convent
dered Google to pay $23,000 per nology Act, which empowers authori-
in Shillong,” says Fiona Marbaniang
day(Rs 95,000 approx ) in fines ties to file charges for offences or con-
and adds that some of her classmates
until the information is turned travention committed outside India by
are in touch with her after a gap of al-
over to the Brazilian government. any person irrespective of nationality
most five years.
The information the government Even though there has been a flood
Others too endorse this point of
is requesting would also be used of cyber crimes, police find it difficult
view reiterating that they have made
to identify individuals that are to deal with them as only a few com-
friends from overseas and some even
spreading child pornography and plaints come under the Information
going to an extent of marrying them.
hate speech. Google till today Technology (IT) Act. Section 65 of the
“The world has
has maintained that they will not IT Act identifies hacking as a crime.
become a lot
release the information. In Section 66, unauthorised access is
smaller and I
a crime and Section 67 identifies ex-
see no harm in
hibition of pornographic materials as a
meeting peo-
are young children and women. Cer- crime.
ple after you
tain sites, which encourage paedophil- Popular internet networking site
have interact-
ia, were recently busted in Goa where Orkut is facing attack by Shiv Sena
ed with them
“People don’t realise you get Googled just to get a job interview these
days”-Mukesh G. Bahirvani, A prominent businessman.
June 08 25